More than half of cancer diagnoses now in people 60 to 79: Ontario report

TORONTO | Most new cancer cases in Ontario in 2018 are expected to be diagnosed in people ages 60 to 79, according to a new report from Cancer Care Ontario (CCO). Half of all cancer deaths are expected to occur in this group as well, while more than one-third are expected to occur in people age 80 and older.However, cancer survival has been improving for people diagnosed between ages 60 and 79 at a greater rate than for most other age groups.The Ontario Cancer Statistics 2018 report estimates that 90,483 new cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Ontario this year and 30,574 people will die from the disease. It’s expected that 48,038 new cancer cases and 15,394 cancer deaths in 2018 will occur in people ages 60 to 79.One in two Ontarians is expected to be diagnosed with cancer and nearly one in four will die from it, making the disease the leading cause of death in the province.The report is the second in a series that takes an in-depth look at the state of cancer in Ontario every two years, focusing on the incidence, mortality, survival and prevalence of the disease.It’s intended to support healthcare planners, decision-makers, policymakers, the public health community, healthcare providers and researchers in planning for future cancer services, investigating notable patterns, and measuring and monitoring population-based cancer control efforts.“The collection and reporting of reliable, up-to-date and comprehensive data is a crucial step in identifying opportunities to reduce the burden of cancer,” said Dr. Prithwish De, Cancer Care Ontario's director of surveillance and cancer registry.“It’s important to present a current view of cancer in the province to help us, and our partners, effectively plan for the future using information from which we can make informed decisions, take action and measure the impact of our initiatives.”For the first time in this report series, emerging issues in cancer control are also examined, including cancer comorbidities (other health conditions that exist outside the cancer of interest) as well as the impact of wait time to cancer surgery on survival.Among the key information reported in Ontario Cancer Statistics 2018:In 2018, 69.7% of prostate cancer cases (8,828 cases), 61.6% of lung cancer cases (11,396 cases), 53.5% of colorectal cancer cases (11,595 cases), and 47.3% of female breast cancer cases (11,762 cases) are expected to be diagnosed in people aged 60 to 79.Lung cancer will continue to be the leading cause of cancer death, followed by colorectal, breast and pancreatic cancers.The greatest improvements in five-year relative survival (the likelihood of surviving at least five years after being diagnosed with cancer compared to the general population) have been made in people diagnosed between the ages of 40 and 59 and those between 60 and 79, with survival for the latter group increasing by 16.4 percentage points between 1984 and 2013.It’s estimated that more than half a million Ontarians diagnosed with cancer during the past 30 years were still alive at the end of 2013.

More than half of cancer diagnoses now in people 60 to 79: Ontario report

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